The present invention relates to a light-activated semiconductor device having light-emitting elements, light-receiving elements and output elements. Each of the light-emitting elements emits light. Each of the light-receiving elements outputs a signal in response to the light emitted from each light-emitting element. The output elements make conductive between two output nodes in response to the signal output from each light-receiving element. The light-emitting elements and the light-receiving elements are of isolation types wherein they are disposed as different semiconductor chips. The present invention relates particularly to a technique for disposing two light-receiving elements and two output elements.
A photocoupler, which has been disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 1-48057, for example, is known as one for disposing the two light-receiving elements. The disclosed photocoupler has two pairs of light-emitting elements and light-receiving elements. The two light-receiving elements are disposed onto two-divided lead frames in opposing relationship to each other. The light-emitting elements are disposed onto the lead frames interposed between the two light-receiving elements so as to be opposed to the respective light-receiving elements. Thus, the photocoupler having the two light-emitting elements and the two light-receiving elements can be reduced in size.
A solid-state device relay, which has been disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 63-170976, for example, is known as one for disposing the two output elements. The disclosed solid-state device relay has a light-emitting element, a light-receiving element and two output elements. The light-receiving element is connected to a tab of a lead frame. The two output elements are provided at both ends of the light-receiving element. The two output elements are respectively electrically connected (wire-connected) to their corresponding tabs. Each of the output elements is of a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) field effect transistor chip. Thus, a wiring step for assembling the solid-state device relay is simplified by using tabs.